Ranking Barcelona's Most Important Players Outside of Lionel Messi

The phrase "one man team" is one of the most overused amongst football supporters, when a club has one player that grabs the headlines.

It could be that the player is a level above the rest and should rightfully receive the plaudits but not to the detriment of others.

It's normally used as a derogative term by rival fans to undermine their opposing clubs, often by those that catch the occasional highlights and only appreciate those with more obvious attributes such as goalscorers and creators.

Even the most ardent of critics can't deny that Lionel Messi is in the top three players in the world and any team would miss a player of his quality. Luckily for Barcelona they possess some of the best footballers on the planet in their individual positions.

Every component of a team is valuable, especially in the better sides where there are tactical connotations for everyone's position and movement.

Here are the six most important players at Barcelona outside the brilliant Argentinean.

2. Xavi

The ageing midfielder makes the highest amount of passes per match and he has the best completion rate in the whole of Spain, via Whoscored.

At 34, the team will need to evolve to become less reliant on him in the near future, but that's easier said than done.

He can't help but get himself on the ball and whilst Martino's approach has varied slightly from Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova, they are still essentially a passing team with the greatest passer of them all.